Disappearing counterpoise gun-carriage



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

W. H. MORGAN. DISAPPEARING GUNTERPOISB GUN CARRIAGE.

Patented' Oct. 13, 1896.

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2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

W. H. MORGAN. DISAPPEARING coUNTBRPoIsE GUN CARRIAGE.

Patented 0015. 13I7 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

VILLIAM HENRY MORGAN, OF ALLIANCE, OHIO.

DISAPPEARING COUNTERPOISE GUN-CARRIAGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 569,224, dated October 13, 1896.

Application filed March 2, 1896. Serial No. 581,502. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HENRY Mon- GAN, a resident of Alliance, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in DisappearingGun Oarriages; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and eX- act description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to an improvement in disappearing-gun carriages of the type shown in United States Patent No. 497,977, granted May 23, 1893, to Villiam B. Gordon.

In the patented carriage above referred to the gun is mounted in bearings formed in the top carriage. This top carriage is supported on the upper ends of two pairs of pivoted arms or double cranks, and the gun and top carriage are counterbalanced by weights carried by the lower ends of said pivoted arms or double cranks, the construction disclosed being such that as the gun moves rearwardly and downwardly during recoil the counterweights move forwardly and upwardly. With such a construction the muzzle of the gun in recoil moves in the arc of a circle rearward and downward. Hence as the gun begins its downward movement atthe moment of recoil it will be seen that, in order to clear the parapet in descending, the gun when in its firing position must be some distance above the crest of parapet, or if well down on the crest it can only project a short distance beyond the inner line thereof. This is objectionable in that if the gun when in its firing position be elevated sufliciently high to clear the parapet in descending it is necessarily exposed for a longer period of time, whereas if the muzzle is Well down to the parapet it can only project a short distance outside the inner line thereof, and hence exposes the gunners in the pit to the blast occasioned by the discharge. Again in all carriages wherein the gun and counterweights are connected by unyielding devices movement is necessarily imparted to the coun terweights simultaneously with the recoil.

The object of this invention is to provide means whereby the gun at the commencement of recoil moves rearwardly until it clears the parapet and then begins its descent, thus permitting the gun, when in its iiring position, to rest well down to the parapet and project well over the inner line thereof.

A further object is to relieve excessive strains on the parts connecting the gun and counterweights by mounting the gun in yielding devices carried by the top carriage, so that it can move rearwardlya distance before imparting movement to the counterweights.

My invention consists in the combination of two pairs of pivoted arms, a top carriage supported on the upper ends of said arms, yielding devices carriedby the top carriage and supporting the gun, and vertically-movable counterweights carried by the opposite ends of said arms.

My invention further consists in theparts and combinations of parts, as will be more fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a View in side elevation showing the gun in position for firing, and Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the gun in its loading position.

A represents a base or bed plate constructed in any desired manner and located over and secured to, if necessary, a pivot-plate,`which latter is carried by the hydraulic plunger, as in the patent above referred to, for traversn ing. This plunger rests in a cylinder and can be elevated, carrying with it the pivot-plate and gun-carriage thereon. When elevated, the carriage rests on a hydraulic pivot, and the traversing can be readily and quickly accomplished, and after the desired position has been reached the pivot-plate is permitted to descend, thus lowering the carriage to the traverse-circle, on which it solidly rests during the act of firing.

The side frames E of the carriage are integral with or permanently secured to the base-plate A, and each side frame is provided on its upper edge with bearings E, in which are mounted the pivoted arms or double cranks.` These arms are arranged parallel,

two arms to each side frame, and the arms'or y cranks constituting a pair are connected at their upper ends to shafts G, which pass through the sides H of the top carriage.

The principal feature of invention disclosed herein resides in the top carriage.

In the Gordon carriage the gun is mounted in trunnion-bearings formed in the sides or IOO rgun suiiiciently over the crest of the parapet to protect the gunners in the pit from the blast occasioned by the discharge. An increase'in the size of the parts, which is essential in order to increase the arc throughy which the muzzle moves, not onlynecessitates an increase in the size of the pit, but the gun is n ecessarily more exposed in all its positions.

In the present devicelhave dispensed with the trimmen-bearings in the cheek-pieces of the top carriage, and instead of making the latter triangular have given them more of a rectangular shape, the upper edges of the sides inclining upwardly from front to rear and provided at intervals with rollers h2 on which the cylinders IIS move. ders, one to each side, reston the upper surfaces of the sides, and each is provided with a trunnion-bearing for the trunnion of the gun.

Passingr through the cylinder and preferably secu red at its two ends to the side pieces of the upper carriage are piston-rods H4, each of which carries'a piston. Thus it will be seen thatas the gun moves rearwardly during recoil the cylinders slide on the upper faces of the side pieces whiler the pistons and piston-rods remain stationary with respect to the f side pieces. The cylinders are so constructed that at the beginning of movement ythe fluidr can pass freely from the front of the piston to the rear thereof, or into communicating receptacles, but as the movement progresses the egress of fluid is by gradual stages checked, and after it is checked the energy of the recoil is transmitted to the top carriage and from the latter through the arms or double cranks to the counterweights. will be seen thatthe gun during recoil moves rearwardly, thus withdrawing the muzzle from over the crest of the parapet, and, after the checking operation above described, moves in the arc of a circle, thus lowering the gun to a covered position below or behind the p'arapet.

The shafts G before refered to pass through the top carriage from side to side, are journaled therein, one in front and one in the rear, and are rigidly fastened at their outer ends to the parallel arms F of the crank-arms. These arms are each in effect two cranks-the inner cranks F, which, as clearly shown, are located in planes inside the inner faces of the side frames, while the outer cranks F rest outside of the side frames and support the Weights K, which combined are slightly greater in weight than the gun, but which for the purpose of convenience I have term ed Theser cylinf Thus it.

counterweights.7 The four parallelcrankarms are, as before stated, journaled in the side frames E ofthe lower carriage, and as they are connected at their upper ends to the upper or top carriage and at their lower ends to the counterweights it follows that when the upper carriage with the gun thereon is rising the counterweights are descending, and vice versa.

Thecounterweights are provided with longitudinal grooves or guideways I, in which rollers J, mounted on the wrist-pins J of the lower cranks F', move.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the first movement of the gun during recoil is rearwardly on the top carriage, and after this rearward movement has been wholly checked, or when the resistance to further rearward movement is sufiicient to overcome the weight of the counterweights, the carriage then begins its rearward and downward movement. In order to confine the movements of the counlterweights to a vertical movement and prevent them froin moving forwardly with the cranks, I have provided the side frames E with the vertical guides K, infwhich rollers L, mounted on bearings L', carried by the counterweights, move. As the cranks F begin their upward movement the rollers carried by the cranks move in the grooves in the counterweights, and as the counterweights are restrained against longitudinal movement it follows that the initial vertical movement impartedbyr the cranks moving in the arcs of a circle is slow, but is gradually accelerated as the gun continues to descend. Hence the great stress on the parts which resuited from throwing the entire energy of recoil onto the counterweights and compelling the latter to' start simultaneously with and at the same rate of speed as the gun is entirely overcome.

To control the movements of the gun during recoil and to bring the parts tc a stop. gradually and without shock or concussion, I have provided a hydraulic brake and c0upled it up to the moving parts as follows: Rigidly secured to the rear cranks and concentric with the axis of same are the toothed wheels M, which latter mesh with the pinions M', mounted on wrist-pins or bearings projecting inwardly from the side frames E of the lower or main carriage. These pinions mesh with rack-bars N, suitably mounted on the base of the carriage, and the rack-bars are coupled at their front ends to the crosshead N', to which the piston-rod N2 of the hydraulic brake is attached. The piston-rod N2 carries a piston, which moves in a cylinder N3, fast to the base of the carriage. This cylinder or the piston,or both,are constructed to permit the liquid to pass freely from one side of the piston tothe other or into a communicating receptacle at the commencement of recoil, but gradually checks and finally stops such escape of the fluid, thus bringing the parts gradually to a stop without shock.

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The cylinder or piston, orboth, may be provided With any of the well-known devices for gradually checking the fiow of liquid.

The counterweights being heavier than the gun restore the gun from its loading position, which it assumes from the eifect of recoil, to its firing position. I propose to provide, however, devices for manually bringing the gun from its iring position to its loading position and for locking the gun in its loading position. These parts are all, however, described in my pending application, Serial No. 57 6,445, filed January 22, 1896, and hence need not be specifically described herein, as my present invention relates particularly to devices for yieldingly supporting the gun on a counterweighted carriage of the Gordon type.l

It is evident that numerous slight changes might be made in the general arrangement and combinations of parts herein shown and described without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, and hence I would have it understood that I do not limit myself to the precise details of construction shown, but consider myself at liberty to make such changes as fairly fall within the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination of two pairs of pivoted arms, of a top carriage supported on the upper ends of said arms, counterweights carried by the lower ends of said arms, and gun-carrying devices yieldingly carried on the top carriage.

2. The combination of two pairs of pivoted arms, of a top carriage supported on the upper ends of said arms, counterweights carried by the lower ends of said arms, trunnionbearings slidingly mounted on the top carriage and yielding devices for checking the rearward movement of said bearings.

3. The combination with two pairs of pivoted arms, of a top carriage supported on the upper ends of said arms, counterweights carried by the lower ends of said arms, cylinders slidingly mounted on the upper face of the top carriage and provided with trunnionbearings, piston-rods secured to said top carriage, and pistons on the piston-rods, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination with two pairs of pivoted arms, of atop carriage supported on the upper ends of said arms, counterweights guided to move vertically supported by the lower ends of said arms, and gun-carrying devices yieldingly carried on the top carriage.

5. The combination with two pairs of pivoted arms, of a top carriage supported on the upper ends of said arms, counterweights carried by the lower ends of said arms, the said counterweights guided to move vertically, trunnion-bearings slidingly mounted on the top carriage, and yielding devices for checking the rearward movement of said bearings, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination withatop carriage and counterweights for normally holding said top carriage elevated, of trunnion-bearings adapted to slide on said top carriage and means for checking the rearward movement of said trunnion-bearing.

7. The combination with a top carriage, parallel arms carrying said top carriage, and counterweights for normally holding said top carriage elevated, of trunnion-bearings mounted and adapted to slide on said top carriage, and means for gradually checking the rearward movement of said bearings.

S. The combination with a top carriage, counterweights for normally holding said top carriage elevated and devices connecting the top carriage and counterweights, of a liquid checking device on the top carriage and trunnion-bearings carried by said checking device.l

9. The combination with a top carriage, counterweights for4 normally holding same elevated, and devices connecting the top carriage and counterweights, of stationary pistons and piston-rods connected to the top carriage, sliding cylinders mounted on the top carriage and trunnion-bearings carried by the cylinders, substantially asset forth.

l0. The combination with a carriage and counterweights for normally holding said top carriage elevated, of trunnion-bearings adapted to slide on said top carriage, means for checking the movement of said trunnionbearings, and a brake for gradually checking the movements of the counterweights.

11. The combination with a top carriage, counterweights for normally holding same elevated and devices connecting the top carriage and counterweights, of trunnion-bearings mounted to slide on said top carriage, means for checking the sliding movement of said bearings and a brake for checking the movements of the top carriage and counterweights.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM HENRY MORGAN.

Witnesses:

E. C. WooLGAR, T. D. RUSSELL.

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